Which Android phones compatible with KS8 hearing aids

Hearing Aids
#1

Unfortunately, most of the posts about using the Smart Direct app on Android with the Kirkland Signature 8.0 hearing aids are out of date. Apparently in the last 1.5 years they released support for Android phones. But it is really hard to tell which Android phones are compatible.

Is there a list of compatible phone models? A version of Android that is required? A specific generation of Bluetooth technology? Are there features missing from the Android app that make it worse than using the same app with an iPhone? I know that iPhones have some built-in IOS support for hearing aids so you can triple-click and adjust the volume. But you can also do that from the Smart Direct app so the same functionality ought to be on Android although a bit harder to get to.

I started this thread because I tried to pair the hearing aids to a Galaxy Core Prime model and it failed. Yet it worked with a J3 Emerge model.

You would want to know if a phone supports Smart Direct before you buy a new phone!

#2

I started out with an Android phone. I think it was a Galaxy SIII or something like that. Quite old. It had a new enough version of the operating system and would download and run Smart Direct in Demo mode. However it would not pair with the KS8’s. They called Rexton support and it was claimed my phone was not new enough and had to be one or two generations newer. I would think any new Android should be fine. My phone would run the more basic app I think called Smart Remote, but it was much more limited than the Smart Direct.

I solved my problem by switching to a hand me down iPhone. The big advantage of the iPhone is that you can wirelessly stream your phone direct to the HA’s with no intermediate device. Audio quality for phone calls is excellent. The triple tap iPhone app does not add much. It shows battery level, but that like the Smart Direct app is useless with a zinc air battery. About the only think extra it does is allow independent volume control of the left and right hearing aid. The Smart Direct Demo mode shows that capability, but once paired I loose that capability.

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#3

I trialed the KS8 with a Samsung Galaxy S6, which is pretty old. It has BLE though and I think that is what connects to the hearing aids. The S6 worked fine.

#4

It looks to me like not Streaming Phone Calls is the killer for Android phones. After having phone calls streamed to my hearing aids I would never accept less. I tried to stream on my daughter’s Moto phone and confirmed that Android does not have this feature. Hearing Aid support is built into IOS but with Android I guess you can only control the volume and mode presets. Bummer.

#5

I believe the KS9 HA’s are supposed to support Android phones with wireless streaming.